Eugene Opera's 'As One' a journey of transition for a transgender woman

By Maggie VanoniFor The Register-Guard

Thursday

May 16, 2019 at 5:00 AM

In 2011, Laura Kaminsky read a story about a married couple in New Jersey. The husband was in the process of transitioning into a woman and remaining married to his wife; since gay marriage was illegal in New Jersey at this time the couple’s marriage would be invalid once he underwent his transition.

Kaminsky especially connected with the story — she and her wife had to marry in Canada because same-sex marriage wasn't yet legal in the United States.

She believed this type of narrative would make for an intriguing opera and could show society these real-life obstacles that transgender people face every day. She wanted raw, relatable emotion in a story that would touch the hearts and minds of people in hopes of pursuing change.

Kaminsky found all that and more in 2014 when she teamed up with Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell to create the story of “Hannah,” a young transgender woman, in an opera. Five years later, "As One" has been produced about 30 different times by various theaters across the country.

“This is an opera about the idea of who you are, finding who you are, finding your truth, how that changes your relationships with the people you love and what that does to your place in society,” Kaminsky said. “It was bigger than life but yet totally personal.”

The Eugene Opera will premiere its production of "As One" Friday and Sunday at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts’ Soreng Theater.

All three of the opera’s creators, Kaminsky, Reed and Campbell, will be in attendance during the showings. They try to attend each of the shows around the country.

“No matter how many times we’ve seen it now, no matter where we see it, there is always an excitement of how each director gives each production life,” Kaminsky said.

The opera follows Hannah’s journey as she transitions from "Hannah before" to "Hannah after" throughout the three-part, 15-song performance. Campbell, who co-wrote the libretto with Reed, pulled from Reed’s personal experiences of her own transition. Aside from the libretto, Reed also contributed to the opera with her experience as a documentary film artist by creating an original film to be played in the background during each performance of "As One."

“I think it’s really important to tell the stories of transgender people, they’re not stories that you often hear,” Reed said. “I also think that it is very important that if you are telling stories about trans people that you have that story told by a trans person. And I’m trans, so it was also important to me that people hear from somebody that has actually gone through that experience.”

Reed said combining the subject of transgender people with the form of opera has helped the show merge various types of audiences in an effort to bring forth the creators’ mission in molding a more understanding society for transgender people.

“We are introducing opera lovers to a new subject and we are introducing people of the LGBT to this new art form,” she said. “I would hope that people would walk away with a little more empathy for what trans people go through. I think it’s sometimes hard for people to imagine that if they are not trans themselves.”

Eugene Opera Artistic Director and Conductor Andrew Bisantz has been working on bringing "As One" to Eugene for the past year. He said he believes an opera should spark conversation within a community and that this piece is the perfect chance to do so.

“I feel that part of our artistic responsibility with Eugene Opera is to be a reflection, a mirror of what is being said in contemporary society, and certainly this piece is something that touches on the lives of many people in our community,” he said.

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